Applied Biosystems Announces Early-Access Program for its Next-Generation Sequencing Platform

Applied Biosystems has announced the launch of the early-access program for its next-generation DNA sequencing system. The company said that it has shipped initial units of its SOLiD™ System to research institutions that include Stanford University, and has begun accepting orders from other customers.

The SOLiD platform, based on sequencing by oligonucleotide ligation and detection, is Applied Biosystems’ next-generation system for ultra high throughput DNA analysis. Unlike polymerase sequencing approaches, the SOLiD System utilises a proprietary technology called stepwise ligation, which generates high quality data for applications such as whole genome sequencing, medical sequencing, genotyping, gene expression and small RNA discovery.

The promise of next-generation sequencing technology is to broaden the applications of genomic information in medical research and health care, reduce the cost of DNA sequencing without sacrificing quality, and enable discoveries that may revolutionise the practice of medicine.

Applied Biosystems acquired prototype technology for next-generation sequencing from Agencourt Personal Genomics in July 2006 and has developed the SOLiD System.

In less than a year, Applied Biosystems has increased sample throughput five-fold and base read length by 66 per cent, resulting in a system that is expected to accelerate advances in medical research, health care and other life science applications.

Applied Biosystems is developing applications for the SOLiD System in collaboration with leading academic and research institutions that include Stanford, Broad Institute, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, Joint Genome Institute, University of Queensland (Australia), and Washington University among others.

This development process has resulted in one of the most advanced ultra high throughput next-generation sequencing platforms. The SOLiD System is distinguished by the following attributes:

• The SOLiD System features 2-base encoding, a proprietary mechanism that interrogates each base twice for errors during sequencing. The application of 2-base encoding rules during analysis removes measurement errors, resulting in accuracy sequence data.

• The SOLiD System can generate more than one gigabase of useable data per run, which makes it one of the highest throughput next-generation sequencing systems. A gigabase is a measure that is the equivalent of one third of the human genome, which contains 3 billion bases of DNA.

• The SOLiD System enables detection of sequence variation including, SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), gene copy number variations, single base duplications, inversions, insertions and deletions. Mate-pair sample preparation is a method that enables highly accurate sequence assembly required for the analysis of complex genomes such as human, mouse and other model organisms. Combined with mate-pair analysis provides scientists with a flexible system that performs a variety of different applications, including gene expression studies for the detection of low-expressed genes, which are invisible on hybridisation arrays.

• The SOLiD System is designed to accommodate future sequencing applications. Adaptable to bead enrichment, the SOLiD platform can be scaled to support a higher density of sequence per slide. This provides the infrastructure for performing more complex genome studies as they are undertaken.

“We have made rapid progress in developing the SOLiD System, which we believed had the best commercial viability among more than 40 next-generation sequencing technologies we evaluated,” said Mark P. Stevenson, president for Applied Biosystems’ molecular and cell biology division.

“We will continue to work with our customers and collaborators to further refine the system and develop the breadth of applications for what we believe will be the life science community’s platform of choice for both current and future DNA analysis projects,” Stevenson continued.